1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more specifically to an operational support system (OSS) which may be used by a provider of high bandwidth connections to users at locations such as homes and offices.
2. Related Art
Service providers often provide high bandwidth connections to users. Examples of such service providers include incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) such as PacBell of California, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) such as Covad Communications Group, Inc. (the assignee of the subject patent application). The ILECs and CLECs are commonly referred to as LECs in the present application.
Efficient and effective delivery of high bandwidth connection services often requires coordination of several tasks and use of related information. The tasks may be performed in several xe2x80x98stagesxe2x80x99 of the service delivery process. For example, in an initial set-up stage, a service provider may need to setup several types of equipment before being able to deliver service.
The status of the tasks in the set-up stage may impact tasks in other stages as well, For example, a service provider may not be able to accept orders for the service in an area unless service is already available in the area or until there is an indication of expected date of availability of the service in the area.
Furthermore, the interface to accept such orders may need to be simple and user-friendly. The expectations of the requestor of the service may need to be quickly and/or accurately set. Once an order is received, the order may also need to be processed efficiently, at least to minimize the associated overhead for a service provider.
The present invention enables a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) to efficiently secure a local loop to a user location from an ILEC. The local loop can be used to fulfill an order for a high bandwidth connection based on digital subscriber loop (DSL) technology. Typically, a requestor (e.g., ISP or an employer) may place an order for a DSL based service using a suitable user interface. Based on the entered data, the services (e.g., bandwidth) to be provided to the user location may be determined. The manner in which a local loop may be secured from an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in accordance with the present invention is described below in further detail.
An operational support system (OSS) may determine a port (xe2x80x9cDSLAM portxe2x80x9d) on a DSLAM for receiving the local loop connection. In an embodiment, the operational support system may store a table indicating the technology or technologies that can be supported by each port, and assign a port according to the requested bandwidth and other services. The DSLAM port number may uniquely determine a port (xe2x80x9cframe portxe2x80x9d) on a distribution frame, which contains multiple frame ports to connect the DSLAM ports with the local loop connection provided by an ILEC.
The operational support system may request an ILEC a local loop connection to a user location specified by an order, with the request indicating the frame port to which the connection is to be provided. The request may be placed by having the operational support system interface directly with a server provided by the ILEC. In response, the server may provide Firm Order Commit (FOC) date.
The operational support system may test the local loop connection around the FOC date to ensure that the local loop connection is provided on the requested frame port. The testing may confirm whether the loop is connected and whether the loop can support technologies such as ADSL if ADSL technology is required for the requested bandwidth. If the tests result in errors, the status of the connections may be checked manually. Otherwise, the operational support system may indicate that the local loop connection is available for the high bandwidth connection to the user location.
Thus, the present invention provides an efficient and reliable way of fulfilling orders for high bandwidth connections on local loops as the local loops may be efficiently secured from an ILEC in accordance with the present invention.
The present invention is particularly useful for CLECs as the CLECs may need to secure local loops from an ILEC.
Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.